


Before The Fire

by JakeTheFatCat



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Friendship, Friendship is magical!, I Tried, Kid!Thorin is the sass master, No Smaug yet, Other, Thorin and Bilbo are buds, sassy children
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-08
Updated: 2015-02-07
Packaged: 2018-03-11 00:58:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3309812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JakeTheFatCat/pseuds/JakeTheFatCat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Well, he was having a good morning until he was bowled over by a young dwarve. It seems the legends are true, you could very well say they were made from stone. That’s what it felt like though, when Bilbo’s skull ricocheted off the dwarves own.</p>
<p>Or, Belladona continues her adventuring, and brings little Bilbo along. Eventually they arrive at the Lonely Mountain, where Bilbo makes a new friend...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Before The Fire

**Author's Note:**

> Hi ^-^ this is my first post so please don't eat me. I hope you enjoy it though, I tried my best :)

Belladona Took never really settled down. No, adventure was still calling to her, echoing in her ears even when she married her beloved Bungo Baggins. This time though, she didn’t go along. 

She stayed put for three years at the Shire, in Bag End with Bungo. Mostly for him, she gave up her adventures for a while. During those three years, they both raised Bilbo, their little boy.

When Bilbo was four, Belladona had suggested that maybe she, Bungo, and Bilbo could go on an adventure. Bungo firmly shook his head, while Bilbo was absolutely excited about the idea. He literally couldn’t sit still when his mother told him tales about Gandalf, the elves, and fairies anyways.

Belladona quieted down on the idea for a bit, at least for another year (much too young Bilbo’s disappointment). That is until the winter came, and Bungo fell ill. Bilbo’s father fought his illness as much as he could, but soon he succumbed and passed away.

Bag End was much quieter after that winter. At this point Belladona couldn’t succumb her itch for adventure any longer. With her only reason to stay at Bag End being gone, she soon set off from the Shire, poor little Bilbo tagging along with his mother of course.

A year passed, and six year old Bilbo can now wield a sword almost as good as his mom, and read a map as easily as his father once did. Bilbo had met the Elves in Rivendale, and (though with a lot of struggling) killed his first warg, and even met a couple of Dwarves along the way. Though he still was quite timid and still tended to hide behind his otherwise fierce mother. Belladona didn’t mind, since she didn’t really want her five year old out and battling away with orcs anyways. 

The two barely made it through the Misty Mountains, travelled through Mirkwood (as well as made friends with a skin-changer), and eventually made their way down to Lake Town.  
There they settled down, at least for a few months before travelling again.

Belladona was curious to see where all the golds and riches the prosperous town had came from, so she decided that was their new quest. It was a shorter one, according to a trader she talked to, because all the riches came from Dale and Erebor, at the Lonely Mountain. 

So after showing Bilbo the path they were going to take, (the long way of course, around the lake instead of across) the mother and son set off.   
It didn’t take long for them to arrive at Dale, and the two Hobbits were welcomed quite warmly. They got a nice inn, with an equally nice room. Both weren’t used to such things, from being on the road for nearly two years.

One day Bilbo woke up a bit earlier than Belladona, and quietly hooked his sword onto his belt as well as his little money bag. 

“Mum?” He asked, poking the slumbering hobbit. 

“Hm?” she mumbled, one eye opening blearily. 

“Can I go to the market down town?” He asked. Belladona, barely awake, mumbled something that kind of sounded like a yes. But that was enough for Bilbo. “I’ll be back here by lunch!” He chimed, before rushing from the room and down the creaky stairs of the inn/tavern.

A warm fire crackled across from the bar, and the owner of the inn was straightening things up and chasing out a few drunk travelers from the night before that had passed out. The dwarve waved at the kid when he passed, and Bilbo happily waved back. It wasn’t very often that him and his mother met nice people. 

Careful of rushing humans and dwarves as they rushed to their morning duties, Bilbo made his way down to the large market. Bilbo had never seen such an abundance of jewels and silver and gold trinkets, as well as cloud soft silks and interesting spices. The place was richer than Lake Town, which was saying a lot.   
He looked at his little amount of money, and sighed. Hopefully it was enough to by some new ink or books. Though it would be cool to have one of those iron gadgets at that stall…

Grumbling to himself, he decided to stick to basics. He didn’t want to buy much anyways, because from past experiences, it was agonizing to travel with a heavy backpack on your back. 

So he passed the colorful and exciting stalls of the market and came to the more tame ones, where you could find some more regular everyday items.   
Though it was just as crowded here, which was a bit of a problem for the hobbit (the Big Folk tend to accidently step on the Hobbits poor feet). He managed to squeeze through a tight packed crowd, and stumble into the cart he was looking for, the one with parchment galore, and all types of nice inks and quills in pretty bottles. 

Most eight year old boys would get giddy around toy swords or shields, but Bilbo was just as bright when he saw the maps hanging from the top of the cart, and a nice stack of books that looked well-read. He had to step on a nearby barrel though, to be able to actually reach anything on top of the cart. 

“Hello there!” Someone called. Bilbo nearly toppled down with the barrel, startled by the booming voice. 

“Oh! H-hello!” Bilbo smiled, seeing another friendly dwarve behind the cart. He had a big bushy beard (this seems common among dwarves) and an ax strapped to his back (this also seems common). 

“Haven’t seen one of your kind before kid! What brings ye to Dale?”   
Bilbo shifted uncomfortably on his feet. Usually now his mom would but in and start talking about how amazing and sneaky Hobbits are. Then she would try to sound nice and state that their business here was their own. 

“Um, well, me and mom are…explorers?” It sounded too much like a question, and Bilbo winced at it as soon as it left his mouth. But the dwarve didn’t seem to care too much. 

“Interesting. Though how do you tiny folk avoid being squashed? Or eaten? No offense boy, ye don’t look like much of a fighter!” guffawed the shop keeper. Bilbo shrugged. Belladona was a fierce enough fighter to keep them safe, although even he had no idea how they haven’t been squished or hurt yet. Probably because of his moms liking for sticking to the shadows when they were around others, since she didn’t like questions. And being a Hobbit in a world of tall humans and elves, they were asked plenty of questions. Even made fun of. Bilbo frowned at that memory.

“Anyways…anything I can do for you?” The dwarve interrupted Bilbo’s slight thought induced trance. 

“Ah yes! I just need some of that nice paper and maybe one of your brilliant maps…” Bilbo said, as he dug out some gold coins from his pocket and little bag on his belt. 

“Of course! You have good taste boy, those maps were made by Balin. A master, he is” the Dwarve smiled from behind his beard, before taking down one of the maps and picking up a roll of parchment. “That’ll be fifteen pieces please” 

“Only fifteen?” Bilbo inquired, as he put some gold back in his bag. He handed over the gold, and gratefully took his new map and paper. Waving goodbye to the nice dwarve, he continued on down the road, ogling at the stalls full of miscellaneous items left and right. 

He even got a few treats for second breakfast (which he rarely got anymore), and was having a pretty good morning. The sky seemed to reflect his mood, the sky blue with puffy clouds strewn across it. Bilbo just walked around, eating his little cakes while admiring some of the craftsmanship of the buildings and carvings on the walls. 

Well, he was having a good morning until he was bowled over by a young dwarve. It seems the legends are true, you could very well say they were made from stone. That’s what it felt like though, when Bilbo’s skull ricocheted off the dwarves own. He flew back and landed on his butt, his stuff strewn everywhere. 

“Ouch…” He heard groaned from across from him. Rubbing his achy head, he looked up to see a dark haired dwarve who looked about his age, besides the little bits of stubble on his chin. He had a dark blue tunic on, with silver designs sewn along the bottom and boots and pants. Hm. Boots. They were weird things. Then again, the small-feeted were quite strange, at least to Bilbo. 

Bilbo snapped off his thoughts before he could continue anymore. His growing goose egg on his forehead helped with that. Really, he had to stop thinking off like that. 

“What’s your rush?” Bilbo grumbled. Even though he sounded nice enough so that the dwarve would hopefully wouldn’t be offended. 

“Hey! Don’t talk to me like that. You were the one who didn’t move!” Snapped back the Dwarve. Bilbo sighed. 

“I shouldn’t have to worry about dodging crazy dwarve children” huffed Bilbo. The dwarve crossed his arms and glowered. 

“You’re a kid too…I think… and I am not crazy!” retorted the dwarve. 

“Good for you. Glad to see you also know how to apologize” Bilbo sent back, stumbling to his feet. He looked mournfully at his cakes and now dirty parchment, luckily his map didn’t fall from its bag. 

“I do to know how to apologize!”   
Bilbo raised an eyebrow at him. Where all dwarve kids like this? How did they grow up to be so nice?

“Sorry” muttered the dwarve finally, and knelt down to pick up the ripped parchment. “And sorry about your paper and treats.”

“I guess its ok. Why were you running so fast anyways?” Bilbo said, trying to warm the conversation. The dwarve smiled then.

“I was playing tag. I still am, in fact. I always win tag” He boasted, looking quite pleased with himself. 

“Interesting. Well, I’ll let you get on with your game…” Bilbo smiled.

Thorin could easily hear the longing in the boy’s voice. He wondered why. He also wondered how the weird boy’s feet were so big and hairy! But he knew he should keep those questions to himself, as taught by his mother.

But really, he had no idea what to make of this kid. He had curly hair, pointy ears like an elf, was shorter than him, and those feet! He didn’t even have stubble and he looked his age! And what was with the paper? What was so interesting about it? The boy was really weird. 

So Thorin did the obvious thing any kid would do in this situation.

“Wanna play tag too?”


End file.
